3D Printing is Ready to Transform Interior Design Creative Process and Workflow

Once considered expensive and difficult to operate, 3D printing has become far more accessible in recent years. Now, design firms can often afford to have 3D printers in-house, but there are also plenty of outsourcing options. The result is that we’re seeing a major increase not only in large-scale projects driven by this technology—such as a fully 3D-printed building—but in the everyday ways that it can assist with creativity and design workflow.

From adjusting how we think about sustainable materials to simplifying foundational design tasks, this technology has almost no end of possibilities.

Expand Your Creative Freedom

The work of an interior designer is to see things before anyone else. They have to conjure whole spaces out of thin air. To do so in a way that is interesting and impactful, they need creative freedom, which 3D printing can help to realize.

Customize. The initial motivation for most people to seek out interior design professionals is their ability to bring personalization and customization to a space. Designers always know someone who can get curtains adjusted to exact measurements or a carpenter who can work around strange angles.

However, that degree of customization isn’t always easy to offer. 3D printing can change that. Want to play with a customized chair shape? Instead of waiting for a furniture maker to produce it, make a quick, 3D-printed mock-up. The ease and tangibility of 3D printing make tailoring items or concepts for clients that much easier.

Play with complex shapes. As the unique, 3D-printed wall décor at a PINKO store in Fiumicino airport demonstrates, 3D printing allows designers to experiment with complex shapes, structures, and geometries. Whether it’s in the early stages of ideation and design or in creating whole items for a space, it offers a level of creative freedom few other technologies can.

Collaborate and communicate. Most professionals rely on specialized software for interior design modeling, but 3D printing takes things a step further. Designers can “print” their Revit designs into tangible objects that make it easier for clients to appreciate their vision. This is especially true when it comes to furniture prototypes or showing how a spatial layout will operate.

Seeing things in three dimensions gives a better sense of what the final output will look like and helps invite more collaboration. “Here,” a designer can say, “Look at this table design, feel out the shape, and tell me what you think,” as they pass around a model to clients or partnering creatives. It provides ample freedom to share ideas and grapple with them as a team rather than as an individual designer.

3D printing technology has become more accessible for design work — Access to 3D printers has piqued the custom design community’s interest in experimenting with recycled material sources and other innovative materials that may not be feasible to use with conventional manufacturing and assembly methods.

Streamline Interior Design Workflows

The most significant way in which 3D printing streamlines interior design workflow is that it speeds up prototyping and allows designers to get further along in their work—at a quicker pace. Instead of having to request a prototype from an engineer or sit and build a 3D model from cardboard, they simply press a few buttons and have something on hand, ready to show a client and improve with their feedback.

Having access to tangible versions of their designs also allows interior professionals to note issues earlier in the process. There’s a time-saving aspect here that can’t be ignored. For example, it’s much easier to see when the proportions are off for a custom dining table layout when it’s in 3D. Designers can make adjustments before it goes into final production. It’s an absolute headache to manage those issues after the design becomes reality.

Interior designer considers a scaled 3D model of project — 3D printed building and interior concept models can improve the client’s understanding with a hands-on experience, while allowing designers to solve potential problems before plans are realized.

Explore Material Innovations

An article on House and Garden recently pointed out the sustainability benefits of interior designers incorporating more 3D items in their projects. The reason is that 3D printing saves on waste because it builds items so exactly and often in one go. It’s also particularly well suited to the use of recycled materials.

The nature of 3D printing has expanded the range of materials that designers can use for everything from chairs to wall décor. A group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have even created eco-friendly glass bricks. A team of New York designers is making ceramic-style 3D-printed objects from Maine’s lobster shell byproducts. There are major innovations occurring thanks to 3D printing that designers can leverage for pioneering designs and experiences.

Current Trends and Future Potential

The main trend with 3D printing has largely been the sustainability benefits it can offer in terms of using bio-based and recycled materials. The advantages are likely to keep expanding as more design teams get creative with the technology. There’s already a coffee shop in Barcelona decorated with furniture 3D-printed from a mix of recycled PLA and coffee grounds.

We’re also seeing more large-scale 3D printing projects with whole residential developments being created with the technology. As more designers get comfortable with it, we’re going to keep seeing new ways the transformative technology can be applied from both a decorative standpoint and a practical one. The potential is nearly endless.